Author Archives: dcaligari

March 9, 1966 –The Beach Boys began recording God Only Knows on this date. (Paul McCartney once called God Only Knows, “The greatest song ever written.”) Brian Wilson wrote this song with Tony Asher, who was an advertising copyrighter and lyricist that Wilson worked with on songs for Pet Sounds. This song reflects Wilson’s interestContinue reading “God Only Knows premiered”

March 9, 1961 –Korabl-Sputnik-4, also known as Sputnik 9, was launched with a dog named Chernushka (Blackie) on a one orbit mission. Also onboard the spacecraft was a cosmonaut dummy (whom Russian officials nicknamed “Ivan Ivanovich“), mice and a Guinea pig. The dummy was ejected out of the capsule during re-entry and made a softContinue reading “Blackie and the flight of Spudnik 9”

March 9, 1959 –The Barbie doll went on display at the American Toy Fair in New York City for the first time. Barbie was the first mass-produced toy doll in the United States with adult features. With its sponsorship of the Mickey Mouse Club TV program in 1959, Mattel became the first toy company toContinue reading “The Barbie doll made it’s debut”

March 9, 1954 –Edward R. Murrow and his CBS news program, See It Now, examined Senator Joseph McCarthy’s record and anti-communist methods on their famous A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy segment on this date. Edward R. Murrow’s method primarily relied on presenting video footage of McCarthy himself. The program is widely credited with beginningContinue reading “A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy”

March 8, 1971 –Muhammad Ali lost to Heavyweight Champion Joe Frazier in the “Fight of the Century” at Madison Square Garden in New York City on this date. Frank Sinatra wasn’t able to get ringside seats for the Fight, so he arranged to take photos for Life magazine so that he could be close toContinue reading “Fight of the Century”

March 8, 1959 –The apex of the golden age of television was achieved on this date when The Incredible Jewel Robbery aired. Groucho, Chico and Harpo made their final TV appearance together. It was all down hill from here. Chico died two years later, followed by Harpo three years after that.

March 8 1619 –Johannes Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion provided evidence that the planets, including the Earth, orbit the Sun in an oval shape and that a planet’s speed varies at different stages of its orbit. The German astronomer’s first two laws were published in 1609. His third law, which he discovered on thisContinue reading “Kepler’s Third Law of Planetary Motion”

March 8, 1969 –Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Proud Mary hits #2 on the Hot 100 on this date. It stayed at No. 2 for three weeks. John Fogerty wrote the lyrics based on three song title ideas: Proud Mary, Riverboat,  and  Rolling On A River.  He carried around a notebook with titles that he thought wouldContinue reading “Proud Mary premiered”

March 7, 1917 –Russia’s 1917 February Revolution began on March 7, which was then the middle of February, in the city of St. Petersburg, which was then Petrograd, in what was then Russia, but would soon be the Soviet Union. Tsar (or Czar) Nicholas II of the Romanov (or Romanoff) line had been away fromContinue reading “Another episode of The Crazy Mixed-Up Russian Revolution”

March 7, 1933 –Charles Darrow, for some reason claims that he invented The Monopoly board game on this date. Thank your rich Uncle Pennybags. (Quite truthfully, the history of the Monopoly game is so complicated, for legal reasons, just go with this date, don’t ask about Elizabeth Magie’s ‘The Landlord Game‘ and her patent ofContinue reading “Monopoly may or may not have been created today”